[130] leaves : 21 cm (4to)

A compendium of geographical information taken from a large number of classical sources, arranged alphabetically by place, with a summary of names ("Vrbes celebriores quae in hoc libro continentur") on leaves r4r-r6v. The author was the first to condense the writings of the ancient and medieval geographers into one work

Title from a3 verso

Title and text preceded by five pages containing a dedicatory letter from the author to Matthaeus Bossus and the reply of Bossus to the author

Imprint derived from colophon (r3 verso): Impressit Florenti[ae] Antonius Miscominus Anno Salutis .M.CCCCLXXXXIII. Nonis Iuniis. Miscomini's woodcut device found on leaf r6v in some copies

Collation: 4to: a⁴ b-q⁸ r⁶ [$4 (-a1,2, r4) signed]; 130 leaves, unnumbered.

Chancery quarto; double columns on r4 recto-r6 verso, b5 recto: single column, 26 lines, with first letter of paragraph set out and with printed marginalia, 143 x 84 (88 including first letter in margin; 112 including both first letter in margin and marginalia); types: 112R; initial spaces with guide letters

With a T-O map (circle divided by a T into the three continents, with Asia in the top hemisphere), on leaf a4v, and above it a diagram of the six zones of the world, both consisting of type, printed in black, divided and framed within a composition of rules printed in red; on leaf q5r is a similarly composed diagram of the climatic zones, with the type set vertically reading up. See T. Campbell, The earliest printed maps, 1472-1500, no. 84 (page 112), describing the red framing as woodcut, and the map as having "the narrow technical distinction of being the first to be printed in more than one colour."

COPY NOTE: Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) copy Q.405.2 without printer's device found in some copies. Leaf dimensions: 200 x 135 mm.

PROVENANCE: Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) copy Q.405.2 with bookplate of Marcantonio Borghese on front pastedown ("Ex libris M.A. Principis Burghesii"). BPL embossed and perforation stamps on a1. Early maginal annotations, corrections, etc. Purchased in February, 1901.

BINDING: Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) copy Q.405.2 bound in floral-pattern paper over pasteboards.

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